nuclear-news

Researchers found seafood such as mussels, paua and oysters contained concentrated levels of radiation.

Those at particular risk were sub-populations for whom fish consumption was culturally important and those relying of fishing and shellfish collection to feed their families, the study’s authors said in an article released on Friday.

“Seafood has importance to the New Zealand population as a source of nutrition consumed in considerable amounts by some sectors of the community,” they said.

“Chemical contaminants in seafood can therefore lead to significant health burdens to the population and it is an important public health function to identify the contaminants of concern and characterise their exposure.”

Researchers measured levels of radioactive caesium and polonium in 36 kinds of seafood.

Levels of caesium were of minimal dietary concern, but levels of polonium could “contribute significantly to the dietary does of ionising radiation for high seafood consumers, although the magnitude varies considerably depending on the composition of seafood species consumed,” the researchers said.

They found levels in New Zealand were the same as found in other countries, which suggested the radiation was a worldwide result of global nuclear testing rather than the 2011 Fukushima incident.

Radiation levels were higher in seafood than other foods, they said.

The study by Andrew Pearson, Sally Gaw, Nikolaus Hermanspahn and Chris Glover was published in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity earlier this year.

SEAFOOD WITH HIGHER CONCENTRATED RADIATION LEVELS:

• Slapjack tuna
• greenshell mussels
• paua
• queen scallop
• rock lobster
• Bluff oyster
• littleneck clams